princess – My Third Parent

oldschoolsciencefiction:

Back in 1978, I got my first exposure to anime through “Battle of the Planets”. The show was a bowdlerized version of a Japanese cartoon called Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (科学忍者隊ガッチャマン Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman).

The opening narration made comparatively little sense:

“Battle of the Planets! G-Force! Princess! Tiny! Keyop! Mark! Jason! And watching over them from Center Neptune, their computerized coordinator, 7-Zark-7! Watching, warning against surprise attacks by alien galaxies beyond space. G-Force! Fearless young orphans, protecting Earth’s entire galaxy. Always five, acting as one. Dedicated! Inseparable! Invincible!“

Still, even as a kid, I appreciated that this was quite a bit more sophisticated than American cartoons at the time.